When Adam and Chavah ate of the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the good and evil intermingled - mankind acquired within good AND evil (yetzer hatov and yetzer harah - the good and evil
inclinations). Evil was no longer concentrated in a single outside source -
the "nachash" (serpent).
Good and evil would be completely intermingled. Now mankind would spend all his
days fighting his evil inclination and attempt to overcome it. Adam
and Chavah, who I believe did not have the yetzer rah,
instead having only inclination for good, developed/internalize the yetzer rah by
sinning, which they were deceived/tricked into. Whereas,
mankind today is born with the yetzer rah as
a part of our nature at birth and we can either strengthen it or strengthen our yetzer tov
to overcome it - solely our
choice (bechira)

Adam and Chavah had an
external yetzer rah
- the nachash, which
was cunning and confused their rational thinking. I don't believe they
"chose" to follow one inclination over another, as is the case mankind does
now, because they were created with an inclination only for good. The nachash
confused Chavah with truth, she took literally the mitzvah she herself added in
stating, "But
from the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the Garden, G-d said, 'You
shall not eat from it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" (Bereishit
3:3)

G-d had not said this.
He said, "...but
from the Tree of Knowledge of what is good and evil, you shall not eat from it,
for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die." (2:17)

Chavah states the mitzvah to not
eat of the Tree but then adds a fence around that mitzvah - don't even touch it,
therefore one won't be tempted to eat from it. She placed the fence
above the original mitzvah. It is common knowledge in Judaism that down
through the ages the fences that have been placed to protect and secure Torah
observance does not override the original Torah mitzvah.

The nachash knew of the
addition she had added and used it against Chavah, deceiving her into breaking
the mitzvah of G-d. The Torah writes that the nachash said to her, "You certainly will not
die."(3:4)
The Sages teach that the nachash then pushed Chavah against the Tree and seeing
that she certainly did not die, she rationalized that eating from it would not
harm her either - therefore she was cunningly deceived by the nachash.

We "choose" to follow
one inclination over the other, we are not tricked into it. The way of overcoming one's evil
inclination is through the remedy given by G-d - the Torah. Just as Gan Eden
(Garden of Eden) had flowing out of it a river symbolizing a link between G-d and the world outside represented by
this river. That even though mankind was expelled from Gan Eden, a link remained.
So too, even though we may turn after our evil inclination, there remains
always a link back to G-d - the Torah is that link.

G-d said, "Let us make man in
our image, after our likeness..." (1:26)
In G-d's image - with the ability to reason. "And thus G-d created
man in His form. In the form of G-d, He created him, male and female, He
created them." (1:27)

The Hebrew word "tzelem"
(image) denotes appearance, while the Hebrew word "demut" (likeness) denotes
similarity in form and deed. Since G-d does not have form it is believed this
is meaning the image which was seen by the prophets when G-d revealed Himself to
them. Rashi explains that Scripture is referring to man's
intellect, which is somewhat akin to that of the angels. Angels do not
have a yetzer rah, an inclination for evil. Therefore,
I do not believe that G-d has an inclination for evil and neither would have
Adam when first created. As Midrash Haneelam
Zohar Hadash 16 says, "'In
our image, after our likeness'...For
even as the soul which came from Me holds aloof from mundane matters, so will he
in body yearn and aspire to the lofty and holy."

After the fall of Adam
and Chavah mankind was forced to seek to return to being in the image and
likeness of G-d. Adam and Chavah had
body/garments light (ohr) as
the Tikkune Zohar says, "And G-d created man in His
own image, which means in the likeness of the Shekinah,"

We possess garments of
skin ('ohr) with the qualities, mentally and morally, to be in
this image and likeness of G-d, not created so as Adam and Chavah, but through observance of the
mitzvot, the divine precepts, Torah study and the meditation of G-d's Word,
which causes tikkun (repair), a complete restoration of ourselves and return to
what we were meant to be. This is why RaMBaM says that in the Olam Habah
(World to Come) we
will be without the yetzer rah and thus will have no need for bechira chofshit -
free will/choice. I
believe we are 'born' with bechira chofshit, but I do not believe that Adam was
created with bechira chofshit. Instead I believe
Adam abided by the Word
of Hashem as a part of the nature created in him ("created in the
image of G-d"), naturally doing what is good. Similar to what the RaMBaN writes, that in the times of Mashiach
there will not be bechira chofshit. Doing good will be our nature.

When
we 'overcome' the nachash (yetzer harah), with the help of Hashem, instead of
being subject to it, it then becomes subject to us and we stop looking for ways
around the Torah - "Hashem said to Kayin, "Why are you angry? Why are you depressed? Is this
not so - if you improve, there is forgiveness, but if you do not improve, sin
rests at the entrance. Its desire is unto you, but you can overcome it."
I don't believe that Adam had this to overcome until he fell from his
natural inclination for good.

I also believe that
ha-satan is the same as the yetzer harah which is the same as the nachash, just
different aspects of it or names for it. Nachash, which was physical
(external) in Gan Eden was the yetzer rah that was in Gan Eden and became
internalized which later became known and called hasatan, the adversary. Any
aspect that causes us to incline towards not doing the Will of Hashem is an
adversary whether it be internal or external.

G-d created Adam and
Chavah with the ability to reason of which the nachash took advantage of. It
"reasoned" with Chavah with the truth and confused/tricked her into eating of
the tree - "the
nachash was more cunning than any beast of the field..." (3:1)
She "seen" things differently than before his deception, she sees the fruit was
good for food, a beautiful fruit and that it would give her wisdom (3:6).
The nachash confused Chavah, "The nachash deceived me, and I ate." (3:13) The nachash
possessed the power ("cunning") to create a conflict between her
reasoning (thinking) and her emotion (feeling). Her emotional attraction was
powerful enough to overcome her reasoning caused by an external stimulus which
caused the conflict - the nachash. After Gan Eden, in mankind this stimulus is
internalized as the yetzer rah - evil inclination.